To be honest, I don't know what makes me sadder - that this happened, or that I am not at all surprised that they didn't. And as a friend pointed out, it would have been surprising if they had done the right thing, in any or all of the situations, including April 9 - 40th day.

I don't know. To me, a religious leader has to be above short-term temptations to need to please the government. The governments come and go. The church remains.

If the church had been concerned with things like that, Vazgen A would not have gone on a hunger strike in 1989. Or Khoren A would have closed shop during the Stalin years instead of risking death and ultimately being murdered.(see http://www.zhamanak.com/article/8866/ )

The current elite in the church has discredited themselves. I don't know how long it will take to repair the damage once things start getting better.

"above short term temptations" is right on so many levels! You'd think that the responsibity of leading an entire nation of people and their souls toward Goodness, Truth, Salvation and Eternal life would put things into perspective...